Top Irish Music played at Football Matches
The Republic of Ireland are set to play Denmark this weekend, its the first of a two legged world cup play off and they’re kicking it off in Copenhagen this Saturday November 11th. If all goes to plan the Boys in green will win and then play on the home turf of the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday the 14th. You might wonder why is the Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll Museum Experience’s blog but we’re all football fans here and the matches got us thinking what Rock songs epitomise the build up to any great sporting event.
1. “The Boys Are Back in Town” - Thin Lizzy
Firstly, and naturally, we have to start off with our old favourites, Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back In Town. This song is the universal Rock ‘N’ Roll song to roll out at a match, particularly on the home leg of a two parter. It’s number 499 of Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs ever, though we’d argue it should be top ten. And they described Phil Lynott’s “Gaelic Soul” and the twin guitar lead by Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson is crucial to the songs success. We think they capture the “Gaelic Soul” of the Irish fans and will for many more years to come.
2. “Dearg Doom” - Horslips
Next we have selected Horslips The Irish Celtic Rock band. You’ll be familiar with “Dearg Doom”. It is the number one song to get teams pumped for match day. This opening guitar solo is known all around the world, and rightly so!
3. “You can only love someone so much but you can hate them all the way to hell” - The Hitchers
Now this one may be an odd blast from the past but described as one of the great Football songs of 1997. And their drummer is named Niall Quinn,( from The Cranberries, not the football team.) This song gets the odd radio play but it’s a serious blast from the Irish 1990s rock scene and was also featured in a kitchen sink opera about football and arguments… There we are now…
4. “Shipping Up To Boston” - Dropkick Murphys
DropKick Murphys. Shipping up to Boston. This is literally everwhere when there’s a sporting event on. Worth a mention. Bit of a Stereotype. Now let’s solidly move on…
5. “Take Back The City” - Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol is our fifth pick with Take Back The City, We’re sure the irish fans will take over in Denmark with their chants and banter maybe the Danes will be singing this to us on saturday when they want their city back…
6. “Elevation” - U2
We dare an Irish football fan to not scream along to the “Whooooo- Who-oo-ooh” part of this song.
7. “Ready to Change” - Kodaline
This is a new one and we’re taking an educated guess that it will be played it the home match at least once. We can also reveal that it was recorded in the elusive Grouse Lodge, which we mention on our tour. We reckon this song, “Ready to Change” by Kodaline has Stadium Anthem written all over it.
8. “Stand up for the Boys in Green” - Mick Konstantine
Finally we finish up with a viral favourite of ours. Mick Konstantine, and his ukelele. Mick writes a new song for most sporting events but this one is our favourite! We’d also give a shout out to his Conor McGregor post from the summer. Well worth a watch!
Updated on Readers Requests
9. “Celebrate” - An Emotional Fish
With the wonderful power of Twitter we had our first suggestion to be added to the list. We should not have missed this one. Thanks RedGman NYC @RedgmanNyc for mentioning An Emotional Fish. This ones a classic!
10. “Dreaming again” -The Coronas
Dave Moloney stated on Twitter that this song should have been latched onto by football fans by now. What do you reckon?
So there we have it a mix of Irish Music both old and new inspired by the Boys in Green! What do you think? Have we missed any or do you think another artist deserves a place on our list?
